352 UNKNOWN MONGOLIA 



Mongol and the Turkish races ; we can look on the 

 Altai ranges and the Kemchik pastures as being the 

 birthplace of a section of the Turkish race, and on the 

 Kirei as being the truest examples of the original 

 Turks. 



The migrations of the Kirghiz before the sixth cen- 

 tury A.D. are as little known to us as are the move- 

 ments of other nomad peoples of those days. Their 

 history is mysteriously wrapped up in that of the Uigurs, 

 and we know little of them definitely until they rose 

 to some power in the sixth century, contemporaneously 

 with that of the Uigur Empire. Previous to that the 

 Kirei are supposed to have occupied the country to the 

 east of Lake Baikal, at the sources of the Amur ; out 

 of this region they were pushed, — by invading hordes of 

 Khitans, — southwards towards the Hoang Ho, to which 

 region they are assigned by most writers. I imagine, 

 however, that a large section of the tribe always remained 

 north of the Gobi, probably in the Altai, or at the sources 

 of the Kemchik and Abakan, where to this day Kirghiz 

 people are living, and amongst whom there is a tribe 

 called Kirei. Subsequently the Kirei formed a part of 

 the Naiman kingdom, which included a powerful con- 

 federation of Turkish tribes who overcame the Uigurs, 

 and ruled over the region between the Kerulun and the 

 Altai, making Karakorum their capital. On the 

 break-up of the Naiman confederacy, the Kirei took 

 their place as the ruling power, their chief centre being 

 on the banks of the Black Irtish and on the ranges 

 of the Great Altai. This period of their greatness 

 extended over both the eleventh and the twelfth 

 centuries. Eventually they were incorporated in the 

 Empire of Jenghis Khan, and, no doubt, owing to their 





